Altair and His Templar Doctor
by Redstrikerborg
Summary: Altair falls ill and it's up to Maria to convince the other Assassins, the only way he'll live is taking him to a Templar doctor. Featuring the Point of views of the Assassins and The Templar Doctor.
1. Assassins Point of View

**Notes: Altair, Malik or Maria Belong to Ubisoft but the rest are my OCs. Also The song sung is "all my loving by the Beetles"**

Altair stood in front of Al Mualim, His arms being held behind his back by two other Assassins. He did not fight them, he just listened to his master lecture him about the creed. His face still stung from were he had been slapped, he was humiliated to be treated like some small child.

"I'm sorry, I truly am but I can not abide a traitor." Al Mualim said disappointed as he pulled out the dagger from his belt.

"I am not a traitor!" Altair pleaded with him. He knew what was coming, he would die because he compromised the creed.

"Your actions indicate otherwise, and so you leave me no choice." He took a few steps towards Altair. "Peace be upon you Altair." He then stabbed him in the stomach.

Altair sat up in his bed with a loud groan of pain. He was panting heavily as sweat rolled down his face, panicked it lifted the blankets off him and inspected his stomach. It was dark but all he could see was the vague scar left behind from that day. He was confused, the pain felt so real and still felt real.

His pained groan had woken his wife that slept next to him. She looked at him concerned. "Are you alright?"

He got up to put on his robes and leaned over the bed to kiss her before leaving. "I'm fine, just need some air, go back to sleep love." Groggy, she watched him leave.

He stepped outside his door and leaned on the wall, he held his stomach with his left hand. There was more light so he checked again to only find scars. This baffled him, he had never felt so much pain come without any injuries. He put the hood of his Grandmaster robe on and decided to walk to the library and see if he could find any books that might help him figure out what was wrong with him, surely the healers would think his crazy if he went to them complaining of an invisible pain. Still holding his stomach with his left hand, he slid his right hand along to wall to keep him up right. He reached the library and straighten to appear normal, he wasn't expecting someone else to be up this early.

"Greets Altair" Malik said as he closed his book. "Does something ail you?"

"What makes you ask that?" He said, taking a seat at the desk and tried hiding his face as much as possible.

"I haven't seen you up this early since your children were born." He mused.

"Can't sleep, why are you up so early?" He shifted.

"Same but I also have reports to go over. You'll be happy to know your son Darim training is going will in Acre, his turning out to be an excellent bowsmen." He wonder why Altair wasn't making eye contact him.

Altair cleared his throat. "Good. Thanks for letting me know." He was clenching his knees under the table.

Malik walked over and pulled Altairs hood off, he knew he would be the only one other then his family to get away with such an action. "What's wrong? You don't look well."

"It's nothing." He looked at Malik who seemed determined to get an answer out of him with the look he was receiving. "I dreamt of the day I was on trial with Al Mualim, the day he stabbed me in the stomach. The pain felt so real that it woke me." He sighed waiting for the belittlement to begin.

"I understand." He rubbed his chin. "Well don't let it bother you, it happens sometimes." He shrugged and walked back to his book. "Try to get some sleep, there isn't anything of urgency that requires your attention."

"Alright then." After sometime he slowly got up to leave. He staggered back to his room and laid down next to his wife that was still sleeping. He could only hope that the pain he was felling would eventually pass. He laid on his left side holding his stomach as he bit his right hand trying to suppress any groans that threatened to escape his lips.

Maria opened her eyes to see it was morning, she rolled over to see her husband laying in bed next to her. She sat up and leaned over to kiss him but stopped. She was alarmed to see him covered in sweat with a pained look on his face. "Altair! What's wrong?" He gave a pained groan when she pulled him onto his back, he kept his head to the left with his eyes shut. She placed her hand on his forehead and he felt hot to the touch. She jumped out of bed and got dressed, she rushed down the hallway towards the library were she knew Malik would be.

"Malik!" She yelled before she got to the door and slid to a halt. "I'm sorry to disturb you." She bowed, she wasn't expecting him to be talking with someone.

Malik glared at her wondering what she was thinking barging in like that. He noticed the concerned look on her face. "What is it?" He saw her look to the two men he had been speaking with, then back at him. He took the hint. "Excuse me, I'll be right back." And escorted Maria into the hall way. "What's gotten into you?" He asked.

"Where is Asiya? We need Asiya!" She blurted out almost panicked.

That alarmed him, he had always known her to be at easy or determined in everything she did, never fearful. "What happened, Why do you need our best healer?"

"There's something wrong with Altair, please summon Asiya!" She pleaded with him.

He nodded and asked her to wait a moment. He returned to the library and dismissed the assassins he was speaking with before walking over to Amin. "Tell Asiya to drop whatever shes doing and to meet me in the masters chambers." Amin nodded and he did as asked. Malik followed Maria back to the room, he was taken back by what he saw, he had know Altair all his life and never expected to see him this kind of state. He was panting heavily with sweat dripping down his face, what worried him more was the pained expression he wore. Altair had been beaten, whipped, stabbed, poison, shot with arrows and never once showed any expression of pain like that he was in at this moment.

Maria sat next to him on the bed and took his right hand that was clenching the blanket. "Asiya will be here shortly." She caressed his hand.

"What? Why?" His eyes snapped open and looked at her surprised.

"There is obviously something wrong with you." Malik said.

"I'm fine." Altair tried to get up but the pain in his stomach wouldn't allow him too.

Malik figured he had to be in some serous pain as he watched him roll on to his left side and hold his stomach. "Novice. Just relax and let Asiya examine you."

15 Minutes later Asiya entered the room and bowed. "Master, will you allow me to examine you?" She watched as he tried to compose himself and nodded. She walked over to the left side of the bed and put down her bag. She placed her hand on his forehead. "Other then the fever, what else ails you?" She waited for his reply.

Maria and Malik both sighed, they knew he wouldn't want to answer. "His been holding his stomach a lot." Maria finally spoke up and received the angry glare.

Asiya undid his robes to reveal his stomach, she looked confused. It looked normal, no injuries, no rashes, nor did it look swollen. She notice he tensed as soon as she started applying pressure to the upper part of his stomach, she worked her way down to the lower half till he shot up. He grabbed her hand and glared at her as he panted heavily, he released her hand immediately after. She eased him back down to the bed before she turned to Malik and Maria. "I don't understand why his in so much pain." She picked up her bag took out a vial with dark green liquid in it. "Have him drink this Angelica mix, it should help whatever is bothering him, also resting will help aswell." She walked over to Maria and handed her the vial. "I suggest applying a wet cloth over his forehead to help bring down his fever while I do some more research. I'm sorry I can't be of more help" She bowed to them embarrassed for being so useless.

Malik placed his hand on her shoulder. "Thanks for your time, please tell me what you find."

She bowed in the direction of the Master. "I'll come back later to see how your doing." She saw him nod and took her leave.

"I'll go get a bowl of water and a cloth then." She gave Malik the vial before leaving.

Malik walked over to the bed and handed him the vial. "Your not going to make us force you to drink it, will you?"

Altair painfully sat up and grabbed the vial out of his hand, he drank the foul liquid. He suppressed the urge to vomit immediately after finishing it. The drink had a strong aroma and it's thick and bitter substance made him nauseous. He saw Malik was quite content with the lack of fight he put up and watched as he turned to leave. "You can't expect me to really remain in bed all day?"

He sighed, he knew it wasn't going to be that easy. "Not only do I expect you too but I also expect you to rest and sleep."

"What about the Order? I can't just stay here." He slowly laid back down.

"What would you do? You can hardly sit up without being in agony." He leaned on the wall near the door. "And I can always run the Order till your better, I did it when you ventured to Crypus and I'm more then capable of doing it again. I hope you agree?"

He sighed. "Fine, do as you please, just keep me informed on any major developments." With that said he saw him nod and leave. He rolled onto his lift side again and begun to shiver, the nauseous feeling didn't leave him.

Maria was disappointed to see Asiya couldn't help, not that she blamed her, she was Masyaf best healer. She was known for saving countless Assassins lives and she knew she would do everything in her power to figure out what was wrong with him. She just wished she could do more then just keep a wet cloth on his head. A thought came to mind and she started writing to an old friend of hers. He was a highly revered doctor that she knew when she was with the Templars, she knew he would give her any information she need. She wrote down what Altair was experiencing and sent the pigeon out. She returned to their room, and was disappointed to see him shaking on his side, with another pained groan she rolled him on to his back and placed the wet cloth on his forehead as she sat on the bed.

He could see how worried she was and lifted his hand to caress her cheek. "I'll be alright." He said with a smile.

She laid down next to him and used his shoulder as a pillow, she ran her hand over his chest. "I know you'll be, we'll make sure of it." She felt him chuckle before he tensed for a short period. The rest of the day he alternated from violently shivering to being drenched in sweat. She tried to get him to eat something but he refused, she was able to get him to drink water. If he slept any it was for too brief a time before the pain woke him up again.

Malik returned later that night and held out a letter. He looked at Maria ferociously but didn't say a word, he was happy to see Altair asleep for the moment. She slowly got up and meet him in the hallway. "What the hell is this about?" He whispered, showing her the letter. "Are you out of your mind! If it was anyone other then me retrieved this, you would have been killed on sight."

She took the letter and opened it. "I was hoping he wouldn't use that seal." She headed to the library to talk with Asiya.

"Hey! You can't just leave and not tell me what that letters about!" He hissed quietly to her, she wave for him to follow. He looked into the room once more to see Altair on his side again and let out a sigh before following her to the library.

"Asiya, were you able to find out what could be wrong with my husband?" She walked in to see several book on the desk and papers full on notes next to her.

"I have a few theories, but nothing I can be sure of. I'm sorry to say I have never dealt with anyone suffering from his pains." She said disappointed with herself. She saw Malik wave them into the corner of the library.

"My friend says with the symptoms I sent him it sounds like his appendix would have to be removed. If it not dealt with soon, leaving it unchecked will kill him. Are you able to do such a thing?" She asked Asiya.

She was about to reply when she was interrupted by Malik. "Have you lost your mind? We can't take advice from a Templar! You've compromised the creed by letting the Templars know the head of the Order's ill!" They argued in hush tones. Asiya eyes widened in shock of what he said.

"His not just any Templar, his a great doctor and hates the Templars as much as I do! I didn't tell him Altair was the head of the Order, just that my friend was sick and I would like his advice on what might be wrong. He owes me his life! He'd have no reason to lie to me." She turned to Asiya. "Are you able to do it?"

"I have never done it before, I have only ever stitched and removed foreign objects from wounds. I have never deliberately cut someone open to remove something before, the complications behind something like that could easily kill the person if the healer didn't know what they were doing." She looked to Malik concerned.

"Andrew will be able to do it, his done it several times in the past." She said eager to do something.

"His a Templar, how do we know he won't deliberately kill him?" Malik frowned at his own question and rubbed his eyes. "I can't believe I'm even considering this."

"I can convince him to do it, remember he owes me his life and we considered each other family. Please! We have to do this! We can't let Altair die."

"Do you think I want him to die?" He hissed at her. "This plan is dangerous on a number of scales. Have you even told Altair of this plan of yours?"

"Of course not. I didn't expect this to need to be an option." She glared at him.

"Good, lets keep it that way." He sighed. "You realize if he lives through this, His going to kill us."

"He'll be mad at first but he'll come to his sense." She assured him.

"Mad doesn't even describe the fury he'll have towards us. If he feels trapped, no matter how much pain his in, he'll summon the strength to attack and kill. How else do you think he was able to face off with you, fight through two armies to kill De Sable and kill Al Mualim all in two days with no rest." He started to pace.

"What would you have us do then Malik." Asiya asked him.

He sighed. "I'll send Asim and Amin to company you and Altair there. They are my best men and can be trusted to understand the situation. Asiya, You'll go to. Hopefully you can learn something from this, if not at lest try and keep an eye on Altair and this Templar." A thought dawned on him. "Where is this place anyway?"

"Andrew clinic is in a small town just before Acre, it should take us a day by horse." Maria said.

"We can't have him ride on horse back in the condution his in and we can't bring the Templar here either, what we are doing right now is punishable by death." Malik continued to pace.

"We can borrow the horse drawn caravan the traders use. It won't draw to much attention and it will be easier to keep Altair sleep for the ride." Asiya suggest.

He sighed heavily. "Maria I hope your right about all this. We'll all be killed if Altair dies and if he lives, his probably still going to kill us."

Malik went to Asim and Amin and filled them in on the situation, He told them to only take orders from either Asiya or Maria, they were also in charge of driving and preparing the caravan, they returned to Malik as soon as it was ready. Asiya prepared some sleeping elixir and had given one to Maria.

Maria returned to the room to see his state hadn't changed, he was sweating and panting again. She bent down on the left side of the bed and ran her hand throw his hair. He opened his eyes to see her. "Asiya says this will help you sleep through the night, you need rest." She handed it too him.

He slow got up and took it, He watched her go to sit on the other side of the bed. It was easier to drink the sleeping elixir then the last one and he wasn't going to refuse her. She would have shoved it down his throat if he had. He laid back down and Maria laid next to him again. "Did you know, they say your life flashes before your eyes when your about to die?" He was struggling to stay focus, the elixir was taking effect a lot faster then he had expected it too.

She tensed and got up to look him in the eyes, she could see his fatigue. "Don't talk of such things. You've had to much time to think by yourself in this room. You're not dieing, I won't let you too."

He chuckled. "Your probably right." Was the last thing he said before falling sleep.

Maria got up to get the others. They wrapped several blanks around him and pulled the hood of his robe over his face, it was cold in the dead of night. Asim and Amin carried him out by stretcher and laid him down on a makeshift bed of hay and blankets, Asiya was already their waiting for them. Asim and Asiya sat in the back that was fully tarped in white cloth with the sleeping Altair. Amin had the rains while Maria sat beside him to give directions.

The caravan had hit a bump and it stirred him from his sleep, he found moving was difficult and wondered how he had become so entangled in a blanket. He opened his eyes to see that his hood was draped over his face. He tried shaking the hood off till he felt the pain shoot through his head, he arched his back and let out a groan. He felt someone touch his shoulder. His mouth was flooded with a minty tasting liquid much like what he had earlier and swallowed it without thinking. "Relax Master, everything is okay." His mouth was then filled with water and he drank that too. After a short coughing spell and the intense pain subsided slightly, he tried to take in his surrounds. He felt like he was moving but his hood was blocking his view and muffling any sounds he could hear, before he knew it his body relaxed and drifted back to sleep.

Asiya lifted his hood to see him asleep again. It was early morning and was staring to become hot, she slowly started to remove the blankets he was wrapped in. Her eyes landed on his hidden blade and stared at it for a brief time. She took his left arm and started to remove it.

"What are you doing?" Asim whispered to her. "The hidden blades a sacred weapon, you can't just remove it without his permission."

"What's the difference?" She removed it and placed it into her bag, "We don't have his permission to be doing what we are doing now. If his going to kill us later, we might as well have a fighting chance."

A few hours later, the caravan had stopped and Maria, Asim and Amin were fighting off a band of 20 templars that decided to pick a fight with them. Asiya sat nervously in side peering out at the fight. She could hear the clanging of metal and the shouts of death, the groan beside her made her jump and rushed to get another vial. He acted the same way as before, she was happy to see he didn't refuse drinking the vial. "Rest Master, Everything's alright." She poured water in to his mouth and he drank that as well. He tried speaking but she could only make out mumbles. She held his shoulder again and after a few minutes he begun to relax and was soon asleep again. His empty stomach was allowing the sleep elixir to take effect faster.

With another loud shout of death the last templar feel by Maria's sword. The three panted for a moment before she saw them return to the caravan. "Wait! Grab a set of armour." She grabbed a set and started wiping the blood off it.

"What?" They both shouted at once. "Why would we need their armour for?" Amin inquired with a disgusted look on his face.

"I know how the Templars work, this wont be the last band of Templar knights we run into and we can't afford to stop and kill them all each time. If we look like them they will over look us and think we are simply patrolling the area." She saw them hesitated before seeing the wisdom in her words.

"And what am I to do if the Master wakes up and seeing a Templar Knight sitting across from him?" Asim asked nervously at the thought.

"That's why we have the hood over his face to block out the light and him seeing where he is and if he does start to wake, wrap a blanket over you till Asiya can get him back to sleep." Maria suggested.

They all dressed in the armour before heading back to the caravan. "No wonder Templars are so easy to kill sometimes, how can you fight in such heavy armour." Amin shifted the armour's weight on his shoulders. He heard Maria laugh.

Asiya saw Asim nervously poke his head throw the flaps of the fabric, she waved him in and her eyes grew wide with what he was wearing. They started moving and he placed two blankets by his side just in case.

Maria was right, they passed two other bands of Templars, they had simply nodded to them and they returned the favour. It wasn't till the third group were they ran into some trouble. She saw the Captain ride on ahead of his group to meet them, she leaned over to Amin. "let me handle this and play along, she knocked on the seat to alert the people in the back."

"Where are the rest of your troops?" The Captain asked.

"The General sent us off a head." Maria replied.

"Why, what are you carrying?" He eyed the caravan suspiciously.

"A prisoner, the General requested he be brought to Acre for interrogation." She cursed in her head with the smirk that appeared on his face.

"A prisoner you say." He got off his horse headed to the back.

Maria tapped Amin on the shoulder to say it will be alright and got into the caravan by the front. She was happy to see Asim had taken the opportunity to tie Altairs hands in front of him and Asiya hid under the bench they were sitting on that was covered by the blankets. She watched the Captains eyes grow wide.

"An assassin!" He said surprised. "He must be highly ranked. I never seen one wearing black before." A smirk came over his face and lifted his hand to punch the unconscious assassin. Maria grab his wrist just before he could hit him. "What do you think your doing?" The Captain hissed.

"The General has requested, he arrive there unharmed." The Captain yanked his wrist out of her grip. "Would you like to explain to him why his orders would go unanswered?" She saw him shift his armour.

"Fine, be on your way then." He hopped out and walked to his horse, he came back to the front.

Maria took a seat in the front again. "May the father of understanding guild you." She told him.

"And to you as well." He nodded and returned to his troops.

Once they were out of sight of the Templars the all breathed a sigh of relief. "I know we are fearless assassins but I don't think I have ever been so tense before." Amin mused. "Who is this General you kept speaking of?

"It's a title we all use to whoever is in command. I told De Sable, that using titles like that made it too easy for someone to impersonate them but I guess I'm glad he didn't listen." She laughed.

Asiya had come out from under the bench, she was relieved to see the commotion hadn't waken him. She watched Asim untie his hands.

"Lets hope we don't have to do that again, that was cutting it a little close." Asim said.

As they travailed Altair had woken up two more times, once late in the afternoon and the other early evening. Both times she got him to drink the vials with more water to keep him hydrated, his fever wasn't so bad when he slept. She opened the front flap. "How much loner till we get there? I have run out of vials."

"We should make it there after sunset. Didn't you make enough?" Maria inquired.

"Two vials should have been more then enough to keep him a sleep till tomorrow morning. I didn't expect him to wake up four times already." She said frustrated.

The rest of the trip went smoothly. They had arrived at the house that served as Andrew's place of healing. Maria and the others took off the armour and she went inside to meet with him. He followed her out of the house and stopped, He saw the three Assassins standing beside the caravan.

"Why are the Assassins here!" He took a few steps back. A thought came to him. "Your going to have me treat an Assassin? Have you lost your mind Maria?"

"I saved you and your family, remember? The least you can do is save mine." She pleaded with him.

"Do you realize how much danger you've put us all in?" He started to pace. "What if the other Templars found out?" He stopped pacing when a horrible thought came to mind. "What if I accidently kill him? The Assassins won't hesitate to kill me right after."

"You won't kill him! I have faith in you. The Templars will never find out and we are all good as dead if he should die." She took his hands. "Please you have to save him."

He nervously looked over to the three assassins who wore their mask of indifference. "Who is he? he must by really important for you to be bringing him to me."

"He's my husband, Altair Ibn La Ahad." Shes said casually.

He slapped the plum of his hand on his forehead. "You couldn't have brought me any Assassin, no... You had to bring me their leader." He took a few minutes to think it over. "Your lucky I consider you family otherwise there would be no way I could even consider doing this." He sighed. "Bring him in so I can see what I'm dealing with."

She waved to the other Assassins and followed him in. "I have one more request." She asked him.

"And what would that be?" He laid a sheet on the table he would work on.

"Would you mind teaching Asiya, our head healer?" She pleaded with him again.

He paused. "If only you agree to never bring another Assassin here." He resumed. "Not that I have something against them but this is such a dangerous situation, The Templars have only just started to leave me alone."

Asim and Amin brought in Altair who groaned as they laid him on the table. He rolled on to left side and removed his hood over his eyes, his vision was blurred. "Where am I?" He asked as he rubbed his eyes. His vision slowly began to focus as he looked at the other two Assassins confused, they had nervous looking expressions on their face. Before he could figure out why, the full force of pain hit him sending him to his back. He started breathing heavily when he heard someone approaching, he eye grow wide in disbelieve, the person had stopped at the door way and looked as equally shocked but Altair was more focused with the small Templar symbol he wore upon his white robe. "Templar!" He growled, siting up quickly, it caused his head to spin and the protest of pain sent him falling to his elbows. He looked to the other two Assassin. "What are you waiting for?" He yelled at them. "Kill the Templar!" He saw the Templar flinch waiting for the attack that didn't come. Confused he watched them turn to him and bow.

"I'm sorry Master, but we can not full fill your request. Please for give us." They pleaded with him.

"What?" He shouted in disbelieve, their disobedience enraged him. He looked back at the Templar. "Fine, I'll kill him myself." He leaped off the table and darted towards the man who was taking a few steps in fear. He remembered two things before he was being pulled back to the table by his arms. He let out a pained yell as they slammed him on to the table and tried to pin him there. The first was the lack of clicking sounds that should of come from his hidden blade being triggered. The other was his wife shouting at his men to stop him, after the shock of his own men turning on him wore off he began to struggle. "Get off me!" He yelled and kicked Amin in the face making him stager backwards before he turned his attention to Asim. He was able to get in one punch before someone grab his wrists and pinned them above his head.

"I have his hands! Hold down this legs!" Maria shouted at the other two assassins who did as asked.

He stared at her horrified, even she turned on him. He struggled under their combine weight as the pain in his stomach roared at him. "What are you doing! I demand you release me!" He growled viciously at them.

"Relax Altair, He's here to help you." Maria calmly told him. This seemed to stop his struggling.

"Help me? Are you mad! I'd rather die then have a Templar help me!" He shouted and double his efforts to break free from their grip.

She sighed at the obvious fact he over looked from that statement before struggling to keep her grip on his arms. She was surprised that Malik was right, he has been feverish for two days, hasn't ate in three, was drugged four times and three people were having a hard time keeping him pinned to the table.

Andrew composed himself and nervously approached Altair, he begun to explain to Asiya how to diagnose his condition, what kind of symptoms to look out for. She took notes in a book.

Altair stopped his struggling and glared at the Templar. "What are you doing! Get away from me!" He hissed at him, he watched him reach out his hand. "Don't you dare touch...!" He ended up screaming in pain as he arched his back when pressure was applied to his lower stomach.

Andrew ignored his scream and continued. "If you feel there, you can feel how swollen it is even if his stomach appears normal." He motioned for her to do so.

She hesitated before she bowed to him. "Please forgive me, Master."

Altair had just recovered from the first touch and arched his back again with loud groan of pain. When she stopped he felt a violent shiver shake his entire body, he growled at them barring his teeth.

"I see." Asiya said as she took more notes.

"The only thing to do now is to put him out of his agony." Andrew said as he walked over to another table and took his own sleeping elixir. "Asiya, please hold his head still."

Altair saw what was coming now. "I'm not drinking that! Your all traitors!" He struggled, when she held his head still. Andrew held his nose closed with one hand and held the vial close in the other. He was momentary confused to what he was doing, then he figured out he was being forced to breath by his mouth and as soon as he did the vial would be forced down his throat and would be forced to drink it. He held his breath for as long as he could stand it, he cursed in his head as he felt his lung start to burn and were about to betray him. He finally gasped for air and Andrew took that opportunity to shove the vial to the back of his throat. His body forced him to drink the liquid or risk chocking on it. Altair managed to twist his body knocking the vial out of his mouth and breaking everyone's hold on him. He was in fight or flight mode now, it was five against one and he had no weapons. He got to his feet and jumped from the table, His feet barely touched the floor when he was tackled to the ground. He groaned and felt two more sets of hand around his arms once more and was pulled back to the table.

"Dammit Altair! Stop making this so difficult!" Maria yelled at him.

Maria pinned his shoulders to the table, while Asiya and Andrew held his arms to his sides and Amin and Asim held his legs. "Release me!" He yelled and started to struggle again, after a few moments he stopped and panted heavily. "I swear, I'm going to kill each and everyone one of you!" He growled at them. He vision was starting to blur and he shook his head in an attempt to remain alert. He felt his body relax. "Your all traitors, I'll make you pay for this." He said in a more relaxed tone, a few minutes more his eyes shut and his head fell to his right.

They all breathed a heavy sigh and released their hold on him. "Everyone one okay?" Andrew asked and sighed again. "No wonder the Templars fear his name, I have heard the stories but now I really believe them."

"I'm pretty sure he broke my nose." Amin held the bridge of his nose and wiped the blood away with his sleeve. "I don't blame him for fighting. I'm pretty sure we would have all acted that way but I doubt we would have had the strength he did." He looked at Andrew. "No offence." He shrugged.

"None taken, this is an unique situation we find ourselves in." He shrugged back.

"Do I have time to tend to it?" Asiya asked Andrew.

"Yes, he won't be waking up anytime soon." He took a seat.

It was roughly mid night when they started and the sun was rising when they were done. Altair had stopped breathing twice but Asiya was able to bring him back. He was pale white from all the blood he lost. Two weeks later he didn't look much better, he gained a little color but with the fever and infection that followed afterwards he still hadn't regained consciousness resulting in him losing weight.

Altair let out a few dry choughs before his lips were greeted with water, he drank everything and moaned. He dropped his head to his left and felt some ones hand run throw the right side of his face but he didn't know who, he couldn't remember who he was or where he was for the longest time. He heard several people speaking but couldn't make out what they were saying, nor did he have the energy to try. All he could remember was being feed an endless supply of water, at one point he chocked and that's when he became aware of any form of pain. He tried to move his arms and legs but found it very difficult to, he couldn't understand why and stopped trying. He decided to open his eyes and it took a few tries before his vision started to focus. He tried to move his arms and legs again to find he still couldn't, He opened his eyes and lifted his head to find he was in restraints. He let his head fall back to the pillow and closed his eyes. He started to think about why he was tied down. He ignored the voices he kept hearing, nothing they said made any sense to him. After being feed more water, he started to remember who he was and his life played before his eyes. He remembered everything up till the day he was fighting for his life against who he thought were his friends, he was confused to why though. He chocked on the water again and gasped for air, he tried sitting up and felt the retrains around his chest, arms, wrists, upper and lower legs. He relaxed in the bed and opened his eyes. He frowned when he saw Andrew staring back at him, he remembered why now.

"I'm glad to see your finally alert Mr. Ibn La Ahad." Andrew said putting down the cup. "Your quite lucky to be a live, but then again I should expect no less from the legendary assassin himself." He saw Altair glare at him and followed his every move as he paced. "You've been unconscious for three weeks and drifting in and out of consciousness for the last week." He sat down on the seat that was near the bed. "Do you remember why your here and who may have brought you?."

"I know the traitors that brought me here. It must have been pretty worth it to bring me to the Templars." he clenched his hands at the rage that was beginning to boil inside him. "What I don't understand is why you havn't killed me, you would be deemed a hero for slaying the mighty Assassins such as I or maybe the price on my head is worth more if I'm alive."

"You were brought here because you were ill, not to be handed over to them. I'm not like the other Templars, I would break ties with them completely if I could." He turned his gaze away from Altair. "If it wasn't for your wife all those years ago I would have been forced to torture anyone they deemed worthy of my surgical skills. They found out I could keep someone a live for several hours when cutting them open and figured it was the perfect way to extracted information. I didn't join the Templars to become a monster, I joined to help people, so when I refused to do it, the threatened to kill my family till Maria steped in. She managed to get me disgraced from the Order but I'm greatful none the less."

"What are you going to do with me now?" Altair glared at him, not trusting a word he said.

He turned and looked at Altair confused. "What do you mean?"

"There a reason to why I'm being restrained, right? If I were to truly believe your story of being the good Templar I would expect not to be tied up. I also see no signs of the traitors that have left me in your capable hands. Which leaves me to believe I've been abandoned here to wait for a group of Templar lacks to come and collect me, while those traitors are living up their new positions." He was having a hard time containing the rage he felt inside when the sound of the Templar laughing distracted him. "What the hell is so funny?" He growled at him.

"I'm sorry, I can only image what Maria would do to you if she heard you say that. She and Amin are in Acre picking up some more supplies, Asiya is downstairs going through all the books I have about surgery and Asim is currently watching my every move still expecting me to kill you, I would guess." He sighed. "As to why your being restrained, it's to restrict your movement so you don't tear the fine stitching on your stomach. Due to infection, I have had to redo them several time already, in two or three days you'll be released from them and depending how fast you can regain your strength, you'll be able to leave and return to where ever the assassins come from." He got up. "Just rest for now and I'm sure Maria will be happy to know your finally awake and will be eager to feed you." He chuckled before he left.

He was frustrated, he didn't like being tied down like some animal. He tried to get his wrists out of the ties and noticed they were Assassin make knots, this enraged him more. "Asim!" He yelled.

Asim walked in and knelled on one knee with his head down. "What can I do for you Master?"

"You can start by untieing me!" He hissed.

"Please forgive me, but I can not obey that kind of request." He said respectful.

He growled in frustration. "Why the hell not?"

"Malik has requested we take orders from either Maria or Asiya."

"Great. Another person I'm going to kill for this." He watched Asim get up and bow.

"If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to call on me, I'll be just outside the door." He left to sit outside.

He was left alone to fume, he tried several times to break the ties on him before he finally sighed and gave up, they wouldn't be Assassins ties if they were easy to get out of. He accepted the fact that he was stuck like this for a while and let himself relax. He was able to see out the window and watched as the skies changed colors to night, with nothing more he could do, he slept.

He woke to the sounds of someone pacing, he frowned when he looked outside. It appeared to be mid afternoon, he slept longer then he intended too. Maria came in to his view and kissed him on his forehead before he pulled away. He heard her sigh.

"You must be hungry by now, would you like to eat?" She asked him kindly.

He didn't make eye contact with her. "No, I will not eat." He replied frustrated, he was to angry to eat.

"How much longer will you be sulking over this?" She asked him annoyed.

"I am not sulking! I am enraged at this betrayal!" He growled at her still refusing to make eye contact with her.

"Oh Altair..." She said in a sinister tone.

He had never heard her sound like that before and couldn't help but make eye contact. He was unprepared for the slap he received cross the left side of his face.

"That's for calling me a traitor!" She yelled at him.

He laid there with his head turned to the right for a moment, He couldn't believe she slapped him. He turned to look at her again and received an even harder slap across the left side of his face. She had slapped him hard enough that the sound it made seemed to echo through the room, he tasted blood in his mouth from accidently bitting his tongue and black dots danced his in vision momentary.

"And that's for really thinking we abandoned you to the Templars and were living up our new promotions." She was trying to suppress her feelings. "Your an idiot and a fool to even think of such a thing!" She screamed at him. "You can't just be happy that managed to save your life." She saw him finally look at her again. "Can you believe you stoped breathing twice! Luckily Asiya and Andrew were able to save you!" She wiped the tears from her eyes. "I hate you Altair! Your not the men I married!" She then stormed out of the room.

He laid there quiet for sometime, he started to reflect on everything his done before and after he woke up. The more he thought about it, the more terrible he felt with himself. Here his friends risked their lives to get him here knowing full well that it was a breach of the creed and if anyone found out they would have been killed, even he was calling them traitors. After a while he started to agree with her. He was an idiot.

The next week and a half seemed to drag on. Two days after Maria had slapped him, Andrew had untied him and checked to make sure the wound was healing properly. Andrew was taken back by him actually thanking him for what he did and told him if he should ever need a favour, the Assassins would be there to help. After that day he started treating his fellow Assassins with the respect they desired. Amin would often be the one to bring him food and the first chance he got, he apologised to all three of them for his disgraceful behaviour. This seemed to put them more at ease around him and they all replied the same way by saying it was alright. He was annoyed that he was confined to the room but it was apparently Maria's idea so he didn't argue with it.

Altair sat on the bed leaning his back on the wall and arms on his bent knees. "Asim?" He called.

Asim came in and bowed to him. "How may I help you Master?"

"I told you to stop calling me that." He sighed. He figured the people that he highly respected and who he considered friends shouldn't be calling him Master.

Asim cleared his throat. "Forgive me, how may I help you Altair."

"How is Malik covering up my sudden disappearance to the others?" He crossed his legs and sat forward.

"Malik explained to the others in so many words that we had information that something was about to compromise the Order and we rushed off to stop it."

Altair frowned at the thought. "How are we going to do that? We'll have no proof of eliminating a threat."

"But we do have proof." He pulled out a box and showed him a feather covered in dry blood.

He stared at it confused. "How did you get that? Who did we kill to get that blood?"

"Well, it's your blood." He watched Altairs eyes grow wide. "Technically your ailment was compromising the Order, so since your a live and well, it's mission complete." They both started laughing.

It had been two weeks since he had woken up, two weeks his been cooped up in that room and two weeks since he last saw Maria slap him cross the face. Andrew came into the room later that morning and handed his Grandmaster clothing back to him. Altair got dressed and thanked him, He reminded Andrew again if ever he should need a favour, to call on the Assassins. He stepped outside for the first time in six weeks, he took in a deep breath and stretched. He saw the caravan they were travelling back in and frown to see Maria sitting the front not acknowledging his presence. He saw Asiya and Asim climb into the back of it and follow afterwards. He sat on the makeshift bed and sighed before opening his eyes again and frowned. "What the hell is that doing here?" He pointed to the Templar helm that sat under the bench. He watched them both jump and stare at each other trying to come up with answer. "Never mind. I think I rather not know, just get rid of it." Asim nodded and tossed it out the side. Altair scratched his left wrist. "That reminds me, where's my hidden blade?"

Asiya jumped again, she had forgotten all about it. She grabbed the bag it was in and handed it back to him. "Please for give me!"

"It's fine." He said casually and put it back on and triggered the blade a few times.

Half way through the trip Asim and Asiya started to worry about him. He remained so quiet and offended stared at one spot with out blinking, the more he did this the more nervous they became when he would randomly active and disengaged his hidden blade.

Altair was thinking about the last six weeks, he was deep in thought about his actions and how stupid he had been, he missed Maria terribly. Even though she sat mer feet away he knew she was still mad at him. He replayed the last moments in his head over and over again, where tears fell from her eyes and yelling how much she hated him. He heard about how much she worried about him when he was unconscious, how she hardly slept the for the first two weeks and sat by his side. He felt horrible and was desperately trying to think of a way to make it up to her.

"Halt! What do we have here?" A Templar Captain smirked at them.

Before any of them could prepare for the fight that awaited them, Altair had jumped out the side and within two minutes he stood over the bodies of the 15 men. The other sat there shocked he had taken them all down with just using his hidden blade.

Altair felt a lot better now, he pent up all the emotions he had for the last two weeks and he could think more clearly. He cleaned his hands on a Templar tunic and looked around. The sun was setting and they were passing throw a rocky cliff area. He walked over to were Maria sat and held out his left hand, his face hidden by his hood.

She looked down at him annoyed. "What do you want Altair?" She saw him tense and remain silent still holding his hand out to her. She sighed and took his hand. He helped her down and they walked several feet away from the caravan. He found a rock that over looked the valley below and sat there. He pulled her to sit in between his legs as he wrapped his arms around her stomach and leaned his chin on her right shoulder. The stood that way for a few moments before he hugged her tight and laid his forehead on her shoulder.

"Please forgive me. I can't bare you being mad at me anymore." He pleaded with her.

She took a few minutes to respond. "Why do you love me?" She asked and felt him tense.

He thought about it carefully. "Because you're able to slap some senses into me and I wouldn't love you any other way." He mused with her. This didn't seem to upset her but he didn't feel like she had forgiven him either. He took a deep breath and closed his eye. "Close your eyes, and I'll kiss you... Tomorrow I'll miss you... Remember I'll always be true... And then while I'm away... I'll write home everyday...And I'll send all my loving... To you..."

She blushed and she turned to stared wide eyed at him, he was starting to blush as he continued.

"I'll pretend that I'm kissing... The lips I am missing... And hope that my dreams will come true... And then while I'm away... I'll write home everyday...And I'll send all my loving...To you..." He was interrupted by the kiss he had been longing for.

After a few moments she pulled away. "I never knew you could sing." She said in disbelief.

"Was I sounding that bad, that you had to stop me?" He mused. He leaned his forehead on her shoulder again.

"No, but I'm starting to wonder if I slapped you to hard." She laughed.

"Am I forgiven then?" He asked.

"Yes" She kissed him on the lips again and they start humming the song on the rock, while watching the sunset over the valley below.


	2. Andrew's Point of View

The long awaited backstory to Andrew, Altair's Templar doctor. I don't know why it took so long for me to post this. It was finished maybe a day after i finished _Altair and His Templar Doctor_ I tweaked it a week or so later after the feed back I got and 'strengthened' the main cast. I think I ended up changing a lot of the story but for the better I hope.

Again. This is Andrews back story and his Point of View which mixes into _Altair and His Templar Doctor._ 35% of this story has the real text from that story.

This also digs into Altair's (somewhat made up) history as well as Andrews. Originally I didn't care to much about the Templars and it wasn't till I started making stuff up about Andrew to make it believable for _Altair and His Templar Doctor_ that I really wanted to developer his character... And did i ever... I had a little to much fun with this story.

This is the second longest story I've ever written, which scares me lol. I'm sure it must be 1000 words less then _Altair and His Templar Doctor_ which was over 9000.

I hope it's as enjoyable as _Altair and His Templar Doctor_ was but** i warn you**. **I get a little graphic in this stor**y... hell even I cringed when I re-read it last night lol.

Again I failed at describing my OC's. I didn't want to edit it and add it in because i don't feel there was an appropriated place to add it...

Comments and reviews are appreciated!

(Starring Altair, Maria and OC)

* * *

><p>Fate or what most of my fellow Templars would say God, has a strange way of working sometimes. I find myself often thinking of a particular mans life I saved and how much I've learned from his companions. Their saying. "Nothing is True, Everything is Permit." Has such wisdom behind it, that I didn't fully understand until that day. To understand this I should start from begin. I have learned many things about us, the Templars and who we call our enemy and so my story begins.<p>

I had just turned 18 and was living in London. My father was a doctor and I was eagerly learning the craft. He admired The Templar Knights for what they were trying to do in the Holy Lands and would often say. "Son, it would be a great honour to serve with them and if you ever get the chance to, go. The knowledge you will gain is invaluable and you shall return a hero for saving countless lives." He somehow knew I would become a great doctor even though I never thought it to be true.

As luck would have it, The Templars Knights were in London two years later. They were looking for new recruits to help in their cause and to my fathers request, I join. Not for fame and glory like my father would boast about. I wanted to put my skills to go use and explore a new country, this why I really went.

The adjustment was a hard one to say the least. For two years I work with a small group of doctors in Acre. This is were I meet my wife, who I have two beautiful children with. I was mostly treating small wounds till they started giving me more serous cases. The head doctor was very impressed with my surgical skills and it wasn't long till I moved up in the ranks. During that time I over heard a few guards talking about Assassins dressed in white that could fly and disappear in the blink of an eye. At first I simply laughed at the idea but as I heard more and more guards start saying the same thing I started to wonder if it had some merit.

A few years later, I was sent to work for Garnier de Naplouse. He was famous for his surgical skills and uses of herbal medics. He was able to take an insane man and turn them into a coherent guard. This amazed me and I was happy when he took me under his wing. It was nothing less then an honour at the time for him to praise me about my own surgical abilities.

It wasn't till I was 25 that I learned how cruel the Templars could and would be. Garnier was a stern man, he would rarely express any emotions but this didn't bother me. He came to one day with excitement all over his face.

"Andrew my boy! This is a glories day!" He said while hugging me.

Stunned I asked. "I guess it is, what's the cause of this joyous occasion?"

"We have finally captured one of the infidels that have slaughtered us needlessly. Come, your skills will be needed for us to get the information we seek." He waved for me to follow.

At first I was confused, I was expecting a man, with many scars, maybe missing limbs and fangs or any of the other foolish things the guards kept saying about these people.

There lay an unconscious child. He couldn't have been older then 14 maybe 16. He looked to have been savagely beaten but otherwise in good health. I couldn't figure why I was needed, so I asked. "He doesn't look ill, why am I needed?"

"I'm happy you asked my boy. I have seen the way you been able to cut into someone and keep them alive for hours on end. Once this boy wakes up, we need you to do just that. He'll reveal the location of their fortress, so we may cleanse the earth of their plague."

It took me a minute to fully grasp what he wanted me to do."You can't be serous? That would be torture, that would be inhuman!"

"These things aren't human! They have been sent by Satin with their law, Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted. He slaughtered 5 guards before they got him under control and for what? Because they were doing their job to keep the peace." He grew angry with me.

"But his just a child! This isn't why I became a doctor and join the Templars." I was so disgusted with the idea I left immediately after and what a mistake that was.

Three guards found me later that night and beat me to an inch of my life. They literally dragged me back to Garnier and dropped me in front of him. I still remember his evil laugh. He started to threaten me saying that he would do the same thing to my family if I didn't do as he asked. I had convinced him, that I would do it but I was unable to do it in the condition I was in. The guards had broken a few of my ribs and injured my right hand. I told him if he wanted the boy to live long enough to tell him anything useful he would have to wait till I recovered. I was relieved when he agreed to my terms. It gave me time to think of a way out of that mess.

Even with my injuries I was still forced to do something. I was in charge of feeding some of the prisoners and had to wear a face mask to help cover the horrible smell. The living condition were death, if you had a small wound it could easy kill you if you spent enough time down there. I was doing my rounds when I came upon the young boys cell. His arms were chained above his head and his legs chained to the floor. I'll never forget that look he gave me, it had frozen me to my spot. Those golden eyes of his and the scar on the right side of his lips. He showed no fear nor was he angry, he wore this mask of indifference, like it didn't bother him in the lest that he was chained like an animal. This is when I started to fear the Assassins and started believing the stories the guards talked often about. If a child could have so much composure under these circumstances then I couldn't image what the full fledged ones were capable of and hoped I'd never find out.

Two weeks past and I was growing more and more concerned about how much longer I could delay before I was force to brutally torture that child, as fate would have it, I meet Maria Thorpe. Our families were close and we used to hang out often as kids. We talked for a while and I ended up telling her the trouble I was in. She was disgusted by what I said and told me, she would speak with her husband Robert de Sable.

A week later I was discharged from The Templars, my family and I disgraced for being a lair. I tried to return to London but they wouldn't have it. Lost, my family and I found ourselves in a small village not far from Acre. We spent a few nights out on the street but my wife was surprisingly supportive, she didn't complain once and said we were lucky to be a live.

One day I saw a woman crying over her child and after spending seven years here I was able to asked her what was wrong. At first she was afraid of me but the fear of her child dieing got her to speak. She explained what the child was going through and it sounded a lot like a simple flu. I gave her the last bit of money I had left for her to buy the medicine the child would need. This act seemed to surprise her and in return she offered to let us stay with her family for a while.

The child soon felt better and was playing with my children, she couldn't stop thanking us and began saying she thought all Templars were evil heartless people. This is when I fully understood the cruelty the Templars were bestowing on the people, it sickened me. I began to wonder what might of happened to the boy they captured, I never got to learn his name but then figure it wouldn't of mattered. He was as good as dead unless he found a way to escape.

Later that week Maria managed to track me down. She apologies for what happened, she said the Robert confronted Garnier about it and he said that it was a lie. I told her I wasn't lying and she said she believed me but there wasn't anything she could do to restore my credit. She gave me a generous amount of money and helped me find a place to live.

I gave the woman a fair share of the money in graduated for what she did for us. A week later she showed up at my new place with a friend of hers. Her child was sick and I gladly helped. The Templars also found my new place of living and had beaten me up yet again. I was fearful for my family and convinced my wife to go back to London with the children. With a good shot of the money Maria had given me, I bribed the ships captain and said fair well to them. I couldn't afford to go with them but I had enough to scrap by.

Two years later I was making a small name for myself. The people of the village would come to me seeking aid that they often couldn't afford, in exchange for my services they would get me the items I needed. I ended up converting the Templar cross into a plus sign, the one that we used back in London as the symbol for doctor. It gave me a feeling of home and I kept in touch with my wife as often as possible.

I meet a group of thieves that required aid one day and were impressed with my work. They became my suppliers under the condition that I help the people and them when needed. I agreed to this under the condition they steal the supplies from the Templars and not from someone that really needed it. This system still works well even today. They brought me news one day that an Angel of Death was killing a few of the high ranking Templars. I was some what happy to hear the death of Garnier but wondered what the others did to deserve such a fate.

I heard of nine deaths in total and was surprised to hear Robert de Sable was one of them and killed in front of the king, in the middle of the war. I wondered how Maria was doing and hoped she wasn't an unattended victim.

I heard all sorts of rumours about the Assassins afterwards. Apparently one of the Assassins ended up killing their master and took control of them. The people were all calling him Altair the Angel of Death, a blood thirsty demon that wouldn't be satisfied till every Templar died by his hands. All it took was one touch of his left hand and your life was taken from you. Truly the idea scared me and I hoped that the reputation I built for myself would keep his presence away from me.

The thieves kept the Templar away from my home as much as they could. After a few years their presence in the village decreased. I wondered why but at least they left me alone for the most part.

I was surprised to receive a letter from Maria one day and was happy to see she was still a live. The letter read as followed.

_Dear Andrew._

_I'm sorry it's been so long since we've last meet but I need your advice. A dear friend of mine is sick and the local doctor doesn't know what's wrong. He's never one to express pain but his in pure agony right now, holding the lower right side of his stomach. He seems to only be comfortable laying on his left side and has hardly gotten any sleep. I can't get him to eat anything and he has a fever hot enough to cover his body in sweat. If you have any suggestions please send me a letter by a pigeon from Masyaf._

_Your friend Maria._

Masyaf. Where have I heard that name before? She must be living there now, I wonder why? I started to think about the symptoms her friend had and it sound like an infection in his appendix, it would need to be removed or he would die in a few days. I have seen it happen as a child and have removed it nine times in total, twice while I was in London with my father and seven times while with the Templars. Only two of them ended up dieing from the complications afterwards.

I did as requested and asked one of the thieves to send the letter to Masyaf. I wondered why he gave me a strange look but did as asked and returned saying it wasn't easy to find that kind of pigeon but he managed to get it done. I guess Masyaf isn't a very big or busy place.

The next day had been quiet. The thieves had restocked my supplies again and wished me a pleasant night. I was writing to my wife about coming into contact with Maria again when there was a knock at the door. I got up to see who it was and too my surprise it was Maria. She hugged me saying how good it was to see me again.

"Please Andrew! You must save my friend, I don't know what I would do without him!" She pleaded with me.

"Of course, I'll do what I can." I wondered why she was pleading with me, like I would refuse her after what she did for me and my family.

"Thank you, his out side with the others." She waved for me to follow. I stopped in my tracks when I saw three Assassins standing by a caravan. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped beating for a few moments. "Why are the Assassins here!" I took a few steps back in fear, what had I done to have three of them appear in front of me. I wondered why they didn't move from their spot. They weren't known for killing their target by just standing still, then it occurred to me. "Your going to have me treat an Assassin? Have you lost your mind?" I couldn't believe this friend of hers was an Assassin.

"I saved you and your family, remember? The least you can do is save mine." She pleaded with me again. Wait, what did she mean by saying to save her family?

"Do you realize how much danger you've put us all in?" I started to pace. "What if the other Templars found out?" I stopped pacing when I thought about what I was being asked to do. "What if I accidently kill him? The Assassins won't hesitate to kill me right after." They would probably think I did it on purpose.

"You won't kill him! I have faith in you. The Templars will never find out and we are all good as dead if he should die." She took my hands in hers. "Please, you have to save him."

Wait, why would they die because of this? Maybe their new leader doesn't know or doesn't approve of this plan. Surely it's treason to him to send any Assassin to a Templar doctor? I looked over to the three Assassins that wore that same mask of indifference. I wondered who could be so important to have three Assassins risk lives to die for. "Who is he? He must by really important for you to be bringing him to me."

"He's my husband, Altair Ibn La Ahad." She sounded so casual.

Altair? I remember that name. Altair the Angel of Death, it made sense now. "You couldn't have brought me any Assassin, no... You had to bring me their leader." I can't believe she married the leader of the Assassins but then again she always seemed to end up with powerful men. Wait, Maria a Templar though? And rumours were that he wouldn't stop till he killed every last one of us? Maybe that was faults and he was okay with this plan of theirs? "Your lucky I consider you family otherwise there would be no way I could even consider doing this." I took a deep breath, at least they aren't here to kill me. "Bring him in so I can see what I'm dealing with." I returned inside to set up.

She had followed me in. "I have one more request."

"And what would that be?" I asked as I laid a sheet on the table their leader would lay on.

"Would you mind teaching Asiya, our head healer?" She was pleading with me again. She said our, does that mean she switched sides? Can we even do that?

The request surprised me. "If only you agree to never bring another Assassin here. Not that I have something against them but this is such a dangerous situation. The Templars have only just started to leave me alone." It was true, I really had no reason to hate the Assassins.

I meet with Asiya and told her to draw a few things to make it easier to remember. I wouldn't be able to wait and let her do it while in the middle of it cutting into him. They told me he was asleep for the moment and wasn't aware of this plan. This made me nervous but as long as he remind asleep it would be alright.

When she was ready we walked towards the room they would have brought him too by now. If I was holding anything at that moment I would surely have dropped it. That boy, the Assassin, their leader, Altair, The Angel of Death. Those eyes and that scar, I didn't forget them. They stared at me equally as surprised. Did he remember me from that day almost 10 years ago? Him yelling. "Templar!" Had startled me and I was relieved to see the sleep elixir hadn't worn off yet because he couldn't bring himself to get up.

He looked at the other Assassin. "What are you waiting for?" He yelled at them. "Kill the Templar!" I put my hand in front of my face expecting them to obey that order. I was confused when they didn't and relaxed when I heard them apologise to him saying they couldn't. Wait. Why would they not obey? Who could possible over rank him?

"What?" He yelled, apparently he couldn't believe it either. Their disobedience enraged him as looked back at me. My blood ran cold, I knew I was in trouble now. Those eyes had a look of death in them.

"Fine, I'll kill him myself." Before anyone could do anything, he leaped off the table and darted towards me. I was so afraid that I had ran backwards to the back wall of the other room before the other two Assassins had their hands around his arms. His left hand inches away from my throat and I all I could remember was. 'One touch and your life was his.' I watched as the other two Assassins forcefully dragged him back to the table and pinned him there. He then began to fight them off by kicking one in the face and punching the other. Maria grab his hands and pinned them over his head while the other two regained their balance and held down his legs. I realized I hadn't moved from where I was. I watched in amazement as he struggled against all three of them and they looked to be having a hard time keeping him down.

"Relax Altair, He's here to help you." Maria calmly told him and he seemed to relax.

"Help me? Are you mad! I'd rather die then have a Templar help me!" He yelled and it looked like they had an even harder time keeping him pinned to the table. I started to wonder if he knew Maria was a Templar. I notice Asiya standing in front of the door looking nervous. She was nervous? I didn't know they had fear.

I composed myself and got Asiya to follow me over to him who was still putting up an impressive fight. I started to explain to her how she could diagnose his condition and what to look out for. He stopped struggling just to yell at me but I paid no attention to it. After years of being a doctor you get used to it. During the struggle his robes had come undone making it easy for me to examine his stomach. He yelled at me some more before screaming out in pain.

I was right earlier, it was what I thought. There was no mistaking it. "If you feel there, you can see how swollen it is even if his stomach appears normal." I motioned for her to do the same. I watched her hesitated before apologising to him and did as asked. He must be getting tried now? How much more of a fight could he put up with the pain he must be under? Most of the cases I had, the person had to be carried in, Here he had tried to kill me and fought off two other Assassins. After Asiya was satisfied, she took some notes. I wondered if he really just growl, bearing his teeth at us.

"The only thing to do now is to put him out of his agony." I walked over to the other table and grabbed my own sleeping elixir. "Asiya, please hold his head still." I asked her.

"I'm not drinking that! Your all traitors!" He yelled. I'm pretty sure I confused him when I grabbed his nose. It was an old trick my father used on me when I was a kid and refused to take medicine. The person would figure it out, hold their breath and after along enough time gasp for air and down the medicine went. The body would instinctively drink any liquid that entered the mouth while in mid breath.

I was amused to see it working well. I could almost see each faze go throw his eyes. Confusion, understanding, determination, then realization that he needed to breath. I was impressed with how long he'd been holding his breath, he most be a good swimmer to hold it this long.

And there it was, his breaking point. He gasped for air and I shoved the vial down his throat, maybe a little harder then I would have liked. I almost panicked when he managed to break everyone's hold on him. I backed away from the table, afraid he might kill me with his touch but he jumped off the table and had landed by the door. One of the other Assassins had tackled him to the floor before he could go any further. Why was he running? did he really think he could get away after swallowing the sleeping elixir? I guess he still doesn't fully understand the gravity of the situation his was in, if he did escape and vanish, he'd wake up dead.

He was fighting like his life depended on it. I helped hold down his right arm while Asiya had the other, Maria had his shoulders and other two assassin had his legs. How can he be so strong? I'm having a hard time just holding his arm and his able to move under the combine weight of five of us?

"Dammit Altair! Stop making this so difficult!" Maria yelled at him. That didn't calm him. He just yelled and struggled some more. He called them traitors and threatened to kill them. I looked at the other Assassins holding him down, they wore that mask of indifference again. I started to wonder if he would really kill them or if they believed that they were empty threats.

He suddenly stopped struggling and it grabbed my attention. His eyes were wide and he was breathing heavy, good the sleeping elixir is kicking in. He threatened them again but it sounded calmer, I watched him struggle to keep his eyes open. I could feel his muscles relax and watched his eyes shut before his head fell to the side.

We all breathed a heavy sigh and released our hold on him. "Is everyone one alright?" I asked, I was concerned about the two Assassins he managed to attack. Funny. I was concerned about the people I used to think were the enemy not long ago. "No wonder the Templars fear his name, I have heard the stories but now I truely believe them."

"I'm pretty sure he broke my nose." One of them said while holding the bridge of his nose and was wiping blood away with his sleeve. "I don't blame him for fighting. I'm pretty sure we'd of all acted that way but I doubt we'd of had the strength he did." He looked at me. "No offence." He said as he shrugged.

"None taken, this is an unique situation we find ourselves in." I shrugged back, it felt kind of strange to be acting so causal around one another. Did they really trust me? I thought about it, I could understand the reason he fought too. Being brought to the enemy by your own people would scare anyone I guess. I think I would have acted the same way if I woke up in the Assassins... Area.

"Do I have time to tend to it?" Asiya asked me.

"Yes, he won't be waking up anytime soon." I had to sit down to settle my nervous. You need steady hands to do this kind of thing and we could spare a few minutes.

Maria Introduced me to Asim and we made small talk while waiting for Asiya to finish with Amin's indeed broken nose, his lucky it was a clean brake and would later not be noticeable.

I found all their names really interesting and asked if there was a meaning behind it. Asim explained that there was, his meant protector, Amin meant trust worthy, Asiya meant healer of the weak and Altair meant the flying eagle. I started to wonder if those were the names they where giving at birth or if it was special names giving to them later on but decided not to ask.

Once she was ready I asked them to help, there was no way I could do this all on my own and control everything. Asiya would need to watch most of it.

Amin would keep the fire hot for cauterizing the wounds, Asim would hand me anything I needed while keeping his eye on his pulse and Maria would keep an eye on his breathing.

As I double checked to make sure I had everything I needed. I started to think about the irony of the situation. Just about ten year ago I was going to be forced to cut into him while he was awake, in hopes he would reveal the information about the Assassins to only in the end killing him and now, I'm only moments away from cutting into him, of my own free will, trying to save his life for no personal gain as I watch him sleep.

I held the knife just over his stomach watching my hand, it's as still as a stone. Good that means I'm ready to do this, I take a quick glance around at the other Assassins without moving my head. They are all watching my hand intensely. I guess this is a good thing because I'm still half expecting them to attack me as soon as I sink the knife in.

I had them remove his robes and clean his stomach before I started and make a small cut. I'm happy to see they haven't attacked me and he didn't twitch. So his truly not aware of pain right now.

I cut in deeper and make a long opening, wide enough to work with but my heart sinks. Blood. Why is there so much blood? I'm momentarily confused and notice no one else is alarmed by this. Then I think of course not, they are Assassins, they take lives for a living. Seeing this much blood in one moment must be second nature for them.

But in truth this isn't normal. I have to double my effort and speed in attempt to get all the bleeding under control before it can kill him. I finally find the tear near his appendix, this complicates things. In stead of slowly cutting it out and burning the wound close, I now have to cut it out completely and fight back the flow of blood while I try and burn it shut because the tear is in an awkward spot.

I do this as quickly as possible and I'm cursing in the back of my head the entire time. He has already turned pale and if I don't finish this up soon he'll die. I'm almost done, when my heart stops. There is still a hole but no blood is coming from it. I take that opportunity to burn it closed before I'm informed that his stopped breathing and doesn't have a pulse. I'm surprised to see Asiya already knows what to do and quickly revives him.

I take another quick look at each of the Assassin and see fear in each of their eyes. They are afraid his going to die and so am I. The sun is coming up as I stitch his stomach close, as I clean up I see they're about to move him. "No!" I shout which startles them. "We can't move him yet, the wounds are to fresh. If you move him now, they will reopen and he'll bleed to death before we know it."

"How long till we can take him back then?" Amin asks me. Do they honestly believe they can take him back right after he almost died.

"Not till he regains consciousness. I can't even be sure he'll live through the day let alone allow you to ever take him back." I probably should have worded that better because they're looking at me like I'm holding them prisoner now. I back away waving my hands in front of me when Maria cries out saying he stopped breathing again.

This isn't good, we have revived him again but I don't dare reopen his stitches, not this soon. If I do, it will seal his fate. His pale white from losing so much blood and he barely has a pulse.

We all watch him intensely through out the day, the only one that speaks is Maria while she repeatedly brushes her hand throw his hair. When evening comes I instruct Asiya and Amin to get some sleep but they refuse immediately. "I bet neither of you have slept in the last two days, get some sleep." They give me a glare that could kill if it was a weapon. "Look we all can't stay up forever, and he needs to be watched by people that are awake and fully alert. There will be three of us awake for tonight and you both will take over in the morning to let us rest. At lest this way there is always a doctor on hand." They seem to see reason but hesitate till Maria tells them do as asked. I let them know that they can sleep in my children's beds considering they'll never use them again. I start to wonder if Maria over ranks him because the Assassins are listening to her.

Two weeks later he still hasn't woken up but he does have a bit of color back. Our task to keep ourselves busy is to feed him small portions of water to try and keep him hydrated. His body instinctively swallow it after a while. We moved him into on my sons room and have him retrained so he doesn't end up ripping open the stitching again while moving in his sleep.

I lean on the wall near the window watching Amin take his turn feeding him water and look at how peaceful Altair is sleeping for the moment, I start to think about two weeks ago, how active and strong he was despite his condition.

For someone that is suppose to be a heartless cold monster it bothered me to see fear in his eyes and I can't help but wonder why. The first time I meet him, was ten years ago in that cell. He was the picture of calm and didn't seem to care that he was going to die. I wondered what the Templars must have did to him. I remembered seeing a scar on his stomach and thought maybe they tempted it without me but then he shouldn't be a live right now if they had. I convince myself it was probably the thoughts of his friends and wife turning on him, that caused it. I know if I saw my wife handing me over the care of the enemy and was somewhat helpless to stop it. I would be afraid.

A few days later Maria is by his side, sitting on the floor watching him sleep. I have a hard time believing how much she cares for him. She was adamant to never have children with anyone but she willingly married him and has two children. It is just her and I in the room, Amin gone to Acre to get some food for us to eat and the others are sleeping.

She been humming a lot to him lately and it nice to hear. He starts coughing, the first real sign that his actually getting better and not slowly wasting away like I feared. Unless he's conscious there is no way to feed him so his been losing weight from the fever due to infection. She looks at me confused to what his coughing means. I placed a cup of water to his lips and he surprisingly drinks it all before he losses consciousness again.

She looks to me again worried and confused, I can tell shes not sure how to react. I place my hand on her shoulder and assure her everything's okay. Shes relieved and thanks me for all I've done. This wasn't a lie, his body fighting the dehydration and wants water, waking him up. The more water we give him, the better and more aware he'll become.

The next week this happened often. He would cough and we give him water before he fell back to sleep. A few times he'd opened his eyes and moved his head but didn't seem to understand anything or know were he was, he would only remain alert like that for a few minutes before felling asleep again.

At the end of another week his fever finally subsided and the infection seemed to have cleared. I had just finished re-stitching his side when he began coughing again. Asim is sitting outside the door watching my every move as usual. I give Altair some water expecting him to fall back to sleep but he ended up chocking and tries sitting up while gasping for air. I watch his body relax and started to worry if his coughing fit might have rip some of the stitches. He opens his eyes and blinks a few times and I wonder if he was really awake. He still has that confused dazed look in his eyes, after a few minutes his eyes started to wonder around the room.

The glare he gave me when he noticed me, sent a chill down my spine. "I'm glad to see your finally alert Mr. Ibn La Ahad." I tried greeting him in a respectful manner. "Your quite lucky to be a live but then again I should expect no less from the legendary Assassin himself." His tense stare was making me nervous so I started to pace. This didn't help because he watches my every more. "You've been unconscious for three weeks and drifting in and out of consciousness the last week." I decided to relax and sit by the bed, he couldn't do anything too me while he is tied up. "Do you remember why your here and who may have brought you?" The last time I did this kind of procedure, the soldier forgot who he was and why he was there. Since he remained silent I couldn't tell if he understood anything I was saying.

"I know the traitors that brought me here. It must have been pretty worth it to bring me to the Templars." I saw him clenched his hands into fists, he was definitely not happy to be here. "What I don't understand is why you haven't killed me, you would be deemed a hero for slaying the mighty Assassins such as I or maybe the price on my head is worth more if I'm alive."

I was surprised by that, he still hadn't grasped the severity of the situation he managed to just live through. It was then I knew the Templars must have done something horrible to him those ten long years ago. He might have been glaring viscously at me but I could see the worry in his eyes. He was expecting to be dragged off somewhere and be tortured. Being so young as he was, there could be no way to prepare a child for the evil things the Templars could come up with but Assassins are suppose to be fearless. I guess they're human after all.

I try to put his mind at ease. "You were brought here because you were ill, not to be handed over to them. I'm not like the other Templars, I would break ties with them completely if I could." I turned away from him as I remembered that day all to well. "If it wasn't for your wife all those years ago I would have been forced to torture anyone they deemed worthy of my surgical skills. They found out I could keep someone a live for several hours when cutting them open and figured it was the perfect way to extracted information. I didn't join the Templars to become a monster, I joined to help people, so when I refused to do it, the threatened to kill my family till Maria stepped in. She managed to get me disgraced from the Order but I'm grateful none the less." I was much happier to be an outcast then forced to kill and torture people. I was hopping he would believe me.

"What are you going to do with me now?" He glared at me, he wasn't letting down his guard.

I was confused. What did he actually think I might do to him. "What do you mean?"

"There's a reason to why I'm being restrained, right? If I were to truly believe your story of being the good Templar I would expect not to be tied up. I also see no signs of the traitors that have left me in your capable hands. Which leaves me to believe I've been abandoned here to wait for a group of Templar lacks to come and collect me, while those traitors are living up their new positions."

He was so hell bent on the idea that he was going to be handed over to the Templars that I ended up laughing. I could only image how mad Maria would be with him, knowing how much she cared for him. To hear him call her a traitor after he woke up, would send her into a rage. She'd probably beat him to an inch of his life and that's if he was lucky. "What the hell is so funny?" He growled at me.

"I'm sorry, I can only image what Maria would do to you if she heard you say that. She and Amin are in Acre picking up some more supplies, Asiya is downstairs going through all the books I have about surgery and Asim is currently watching my every move still expecting me to kill you, I guess." I hoped that convinced him to relax a little. "As to why your being restrained, it's to restrict your movement so you don't tear the fine stitching on your stomach. Due to infection, I have had to redo them several time already, in two or three days you'll be released from them and depending how fast you can regain your strength, you'll be able to leave and return to where ever the Assassins come from." I knew my presences there wasn't going to make him relax, so I got up. "Just rest for now and I'm sure Maria will be happy to know your finally awake and will be eager to feed you."

As soon as I left, I heard him yell for Asim. I was a little worried thinking maybe that since he's getting better, they would listen to him again and have them either untie him or have them kill me. It's uncharacteristic of me to eavesdrop but I figured I should at least get a head start if I am targeted to be killed.

"What can I do for you Master?"

"You can start by untieing me!" He yelled. Well I was right about one thing so far.

"Please for give me, but I can not obey that kind of request." He said respectfully.

He growled. "Why the hell not?"

"Malik has requested we take orders from either Maria or Asiya." So I partly owe my life to a man named Malik? And he has the ability to over rule their leader? Assassin politics must be really complicated. I wonder if fate will send me across his path as well. Well, for now I know my life isn't in any danger, at least till I end up untieing him that is. With that, I left to go speak with Asiya and tell her the good news of him being awake.

Maria and Amin returned the next morning from Acre and she was happy to find out he was awake. She more or less forced be to reveal everything he had told me and said she would make him see reason. I wasn't sure what she meant by that but before I could ask she rushed upstairs to go see him.

Asiya had asked me a question about something she found in a book and I was attempting to explain when we both looked up to the ceiling. "What was that sound?" I asked Asiya. Whatever it was it echoed downstairs.

A minute later Maria came down stairs in a full fledge rage followed by Asim trying to calm her. She was yelling about how much she hated him and that she would kill him, ranting about how stubborn he was. Amin and Asiya began to try and calm her as well. She began throwing anything she got her hands on, luckily it was all stuff they brought. A few times we all ducked out of the way of the flying items. I was amazed by their patients and respect they had for her even though they all knew she used to be a Templar.

She had told me of the day they meet and how he didn't kill her. They meet again before going to Cyprus not long after and he told her the truth about what the Templars were up too. They then more or less feel in love, got married and had two boys. I wondered if I'd ever get to meet them.

Several hours later she had claimed down and I was a afraid to ask but I knew we had to start feeding Altair something. "That ungrateful bastard can starve to death for all I care!" She yelled. I decided against her wishes and brought a plate of fruits with me.

He refused to eat or drink anything for that matter. He didn't speak but I could see the sorrow in his eyes. I went over to Asim who had followed me up. I picked up a slice of apple and ate it. "He might think I poison the food, could you eat one in front of him and see if he will eat?" Asim humoured me.

He bowed to him as he normally would and ate one before offering him a slice, he turned his head away from it. Asim pauses and looks at me for a moment before trying again. This time he pleaded with him to eat and said Maria had prepared them for him. He didn't buy it, he turned his head away from it again. He offered him something to drink before giving up. I started to wonder if maybe he heard her comment and was now trying to full fill that wish.

I went up to see him two days later, he was still refusing to eat and I wanted to check to make sure the wound was healing properly. When I entered the room I noticed he was asleep. Was he getting sick again from the lack of eating? He should be alert to my presence. He woke up as soon as I touched the blanket that covered him. He was surprised at first but then gave me a questioning look. "I'm sorry I woke you, if you don't mind. I would like to check to see if the stitches are healing properly." He turned his gaze away from me so I figured he didn't object to it, they were healing nicely.

I offered him something to drink again but he refused. This was starting to annoy me, I pulled out the knife I would use to cut his stitches and saw him tense, his eyes focused on the blade. "Relax. I'm only cutting your ties." I'm sure he heard the annoyed tone in my voice. He watched as I cut the ropes on his legs then chest. I carefully cut the rope on his right wrist before cutting the left. His left hand, the one they say can take your life by the touch. I think he senses my fear of it because I saw the amusement in his eyes. I'm starting to think its all a lie now and cut the rope. "I would like to request that you remain in bed for a few more days before getting up and moving around." I doubt he has the energy too while I watch him rub his wrists.

I put the knife back in my pocket and hand him the cup of water. "Drink. Don't make me hold your nose again." Come to think of it, I probably should have done that while he was still tried up, oh well. He seems amused by this and drinks it. I think he finally trusts me now but his got to be starving, so I turn to leave to get something for him to eat.

"Wait." This makes my blood run cold. Why is he asking me to stay? He calls for Asim and he comes in to greet him."I want you to leave and go to the others till Andrew returns to you, are you at least able to grant me that request?" Why does he want him to leave?

Asim gives me a look of death before probably wondering the same thing. After a moment he bows. "As you wish." And leaves as requested.

I lean on the wall near the window. I'm not sure what he intends to do but if he were to attack I can at least try and jump out the window. He's not making eye contact with me and seems deep in thought. "I want to thank you for saving my life and for also sparing it." He says.

"Sparing it? I was never trying to take it."

"You would have been forced too, I remember the day we meet in the cell, I remember your eyes well."

"You really remember me from that brief moment?"

"You and I have a rare gift to be able to read ones emotions, we do this so well that its become second nature to us. That day in the cell, you had stopped dead in your tracks. You had recognized me even though it was the first time I had ever seen you. I knew you were my tormentor so I showed you no fear, you saw this and in turn feared me. Your eyes then showed me compassion and pity, this confused me since I was expecting anger and because you picked up on my confusion. You became confused which in turn surprised me and then you turned your gaze away from mine and left immediately after."

"Is that why you tried to kill me eariler? Because you remembered I worked for Garnier?" Maybe he thought I was still loyal to him.

"Yes, the guards would laugh at me outside my cell. They would boast about what you were capable of. How you would remove my insides, lay them on a table in front of me and I would remain a live for hours before dieing a painful death. This didn't bother me till they felt the need to test it out on another prisoner and had me watch. The prisoner died to quickly and said, it would have to be you to do it. It's only now that I understand why they tortured me another way and it's because you had refused to do it."

"It's funny." I can't help but reflect on all the ironies.

"What's funny?"

"Fate. I've been put in a situation to save the life of someone the Templars deemed a blood thirsty demons sent from hell and I'm sure you find it ironic to be thanking a Templar for saving your life after everything you've witnessed them do to people." I heard him chuckle.

"Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted. You have seen that the Assassins are just as human as you and I have learned that there are Templars out there that will stand up for what they believe in and wont be bullied around. If ever you need a favour, don't hesitate in coming to the Assassins for help."

"That's a generous offer but won't they kill me if I tried seeking one out?"

"Not if you tell them my full name, they'll seek information before they kill and I'll be informing the Rafiq in Acre of the service you've provided to the Assassins."

"You honour me." I noticed he was tired because he was fighting to stay awake. "Rest, when you wake up there will be something for you to eat." He nods before closing his eyes.

Maria was still mad at him and had confined him to the room. I was surprised he doesn't argue about it. I checked on him every so often and saw him either pacing out of restlessness or deep in thought. He must really love her to obey her demands.

I had a few more conversations with him. I had asked if it was true, that he could take some ones life by a simply touch. He said it was true but not by the touch. He told me, I would figure it out if I observed them more.

I asked if he killed Garnier de Naplouse out of revenge for the torture he went through. He said no and explained in great detail why he killed those nine men. He had also killed their master over a particular item that he said was very dangerous but didn't go into more details and I didn't push to ask.

Two weeks later I felt he was more then well enough to return to Masyaf. I returned his Grandmaster robes to him and wished him well. In return he reminded me of the offer and said safety and peace.

Maria had thanked me again for everything I did and wished me well. The other Assassins had done the same and also said Safety and peace. I watched them get into the caravan and saw a Templar helmet fly out the back before they left. I laughed and wondered if fate would have our paths cross again.

Andrew folded the collection of papers and placed them in a box with the others he had written. He hid the box away and blew out the candle before going to sleep.


End file.
